After a little hesitation, they left me alone with him. I stood there, waiting as they shut the door, smelling concrete and disinfectant.

“Funny to see girls in the League. Never saw women as vigilantes back in my day except for Ghostwoman. She was goddamn scary — phased her pistol through my armor and nearly into my head. Stopped me a couple times.”

“You’re going to have to talk to a judge if you want to get out.” Jaclyn stood opposite Chris’ grandfather. “We don’t have any power over that.”

Cannon didn’t seemed fazed by her response. “The old League was in bed with the FBI. You’re telling me you aren’t? Besides, I’m not expecting you to do it directly. I’ll tell you what you want to know about the ball, and after that you’ll call the FBI and I’ll tell them something they want to know.”

It was the first time I could think of that Jaclyn got involved in a case. She’d always had a kind of “take it or leave it” approach to the Heroes League since we’d reformed. For this, she took the same approach she took toward homework — focus.

Within half an hour, we knew who the Maniacs were, and what they’d been doing for the last fifteen years. With a of couple exceptions, they’d been in jail. Jack Maniac and Christine Maniac apparently still robbed banks together. Jason and Chucky Maniac were in jail. Freddy had died.Continue reading Rivalry: Part 4→

I ran the ball up and down the room a couple times before I felt comfortable with the controls. We’d had to charge the batteries. Even though they charged relatively quickly, they only made it halfway before we gave up on waiting.

Chris clicked a button, opening a tunnel that led to the surface. Just like the Heroes League’s tunnels, it had concrete walls. Chris ran out first, the machines that powered his legs giving him a massive stride. The clipped sound of his footfalls echoed in the tunnel.

We started talking about the fight again for another thirty minutes or so. Somehow the conversation turned to Lee, and I reminded people that he wanted all of us there the next day and ideally every practice thereafter.

Sean looked over the oncoming crowd a little nervously, and asked me, “What are we supposed to do now?”

“No idea,” I said.

Then I turned on the loudspeaker.

They were halfway across the lawn, and the growing darkness gave the group a “Night of the Living Dead” feel. Not that they were really zombies, but a crowd of people walking toward you isn’t a normal situation.Continue reading Hysteria: Part 9→